[House Report 107-709]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



107th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 2d Session                                                     107-709

======================================================================



 
            FEDERAL-UTAH STATE TRUST LANDS CONSOLIDATION ACT

                                _______
                                

October 1, 2002.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
              State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

  Mr. Hansen, from the Committee on Resources, submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 4968]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Resources, to whom was referred the bill 
(H.R. 4968) to provide for the exchange of certain lands in 
Utah, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with 
an amendment and recommend that the bill as amended do pass.
    The amendment is as follows:
    Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the 
following:

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

  This Act may be cited as the ``Federal-Utah State Trust Lands 
Consolidation Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

  (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
          (1) The San Rafael Swell in Utah is a 900-square mile, wild 
        and beautiful region west of the Green River. The San Rafael 
        Swell is dominated by the jagged, uplifted San Rafael Reef, 
        which has nearly two dozen major canyons and many side draws 
        and box canyons. The San Rafael Swell towers above the desert 
        like a wilderness castle, ringed by 1,000-foot ramparts of 
        Navajo sandstone. Its highlands have been fractured by uplift 
        and scooped hollow by erosion over countless millennia, leaving 
        a tremendous basin punctuated by mesas, buttes, and canyons and 
        traversed by sediment-laden desert streams.
          (2) The San Rafael Swell region was one of the country's last 
        frontiers and possesses important natural, historical, and 
        cultural resources, including exceptional backcountry 
        recreation opportunities, productive habitat for Desert Bighorn 
        Sheep, important historical sites, including sections of the 
        Old Spanish Trail and the Outlaw Trail, significant 
        paleontological resources, and multiple wilderness study areas 
        created pursuant to section 603 of the Federal Lands Policy and 
        Management Act of 1976, or otherwise identified by local 
        government and conservation interests as having significant 
        conservation values. The beautiful rural landscapes, historic 
        and cultural landscapes, and spectacular scenic vistas of the 
        San Rafael Swell region contain significant undeveloped 
        recreational opportunities for people throughout the United 
        States.
          (3) The State of Utah owns approximately 102,871 acres of 
        land located in the San Rafael Swell region and administered by 
        the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration. 
        These lands were granted by the Congress to the State of Utah 
        pursuant to the Utah Enabling Act of 1894 (chapter 138; 23 
        Stat. 107), to be held in trust for the benefit of the State's 
        public school system and other public institutions. The lands 
        are largely scattered in checkerboard fashion amidst the 
        Federal lands comprising the remainder of the San Rafael Swell 
        area.
          (4) Development of surface and mineral resources on State 
        trust lands within the San Rafael Swell area, or the sale of 
        such lands into private ownership, could be incompatible with 
        management of such lands for nonimpairment of their wilderness 
        characteristics pursuant to section 603(c) of the Federal Land 
        Policy and Management Act of 1976, with future congressional 
        designation of the lands as wilderness, or with future 
        designation of such lands as a national monument, national 
        heritage area, or other conservation designation.
          (5) The State of Utah also owns 3,533 acres of land within or 
        directly adjacent to the Manti-La Sal National Forest in Grand 
        and Emery Counties, Utah, and 6,411 acres of land within the 
        Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, a conservation reserve established 
        in 1995 by the United States and Washington County, Utah, to 
        implement a multiple-species habitat conservation plan approved 
        by the Fish and Wildlife Service under section 10(a) of the 
        Endangered Species Act of 1973. The Reserve contains the 
        highest density of critical habitat for the Mojave desert 
        tortoise, a threatened species, in the United States. These 
        State trust lands are also administered by the Utah School and 
        Institutional Trust Lands Administration, but the use of such 
        lands by the State is limited because of the conservation 
        designations of surrounding Federal lands.
          (6) The United States owns lands and interests in lands 
        elsewhere in Utah that can be transferred to the State of Utah 
        in exchange for the San Rafael Swell inholdings, the Manti-La 
        Sal forest lands, and the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve lands 
        without jeopardizing Federal management objectives or needs.
          (7) The large presence of State trust land inholdings in the 
        San Rafael Swell region, the Manti-La Sal National Forest, and 
        the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve makes land and resource 
        management in these areas difficult, costly, and controversial 
        for both the State of Utah and the United States.
          (8) It is in the public interest to reach agreement on 
        exchange of such inholdings, on terms fair to both the State of 
        Utah and the United States. Such an agreement, subject to 
        ratification by Congress and consent by the Utah legislature, 
        would save much time and delay in meeting the legitimate 
        expectations of the State school and institutional trusts, in 
        simplifying management of Federal lands, and in avoiding the 
        significant time and expense associated with administrative 
        land exchanges.
          (9) The State of Utah and the United States have reached an 
        agreement under which the State would exchange certain State 
        trust lands within the San Rafael Swell region, the Manti-La 
        Sal National Forest, and the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve for 
        various Federal lands outside of those areas but in the same 
        region of Utah.
          (10) The parties agreed at the outset of negotiations to 
        avoid identifying Federal assets for conveyance to the State 
        where any of the following was known to exist or likely to be 
        an issue as a result of foreseeable future uses of the lands:
                  (A) Wilderness study areas.
                  (B) Areas proposed for wilderness designation in 
                pending Federal legislation.
                  (C) Significant endangered species habitat.
                  (D) Significant archaeological resources.
                  (E) Areas of critical environmental concern.
                  (F) Other lands known to raise significant 
                environmental concerns of any kind.
          (11) Because the State trust lands to be acquired by the 
        Federal Government include properties within some of the most 
        spectacular wild areas in the western United States, and 
        because a mission of the Utah School and Institutional Trust 
        Lands Administration is to produce economic benefits for Utah's 
        public schools and other beneficiary institutions, the exchange 
        of lands called for in this agreement will resolve longstanding 
        environmental conflicts with respect to existing and proposed 
        wilderness study areas, place important natural lands into 
        public ownership, and further the interests of the State trust 
        lands, the school children of Utah, and these conservation 
        resources.
          (12) Under this agreement, the State interests to be conveyed 
        to the United States by the State of Utah, and the Federal 
        interests to be conveyed to the State of Utah by the United 
        States, have been examined by licensed independent real estate 
        consultants and, taken as a whole, have been found to be 
        approximately equal in value.
  (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to enact into law and direct 
prompt implementation of this agreement, and thereby to further the 
public interest by consolidating State and Federal lands into 
manageable units while facilitating the protection of lands with 
significant scientific, cultural, and natural resources.

SEC. 3. RATIFICATION OF THE AGREED EXCHANGE BETWEEN THE STATE OF UTAH 
                    AND THE UNITED STATES.

  (a) Agreement.--The State of Utah, the Department of the Interior, 
and the Department of Agriculture have agreed to exchange certain 
Federal lands in the State of Utah for lands of approximately equal 
value managed by the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands 
Administration in the San Rafael Swell area of Utah, the Manti-La Sal 
National Forest, and the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve.
  (b) Ratification.--All terms, conditions, procedures, covenants, 
reservations, and other provisions set forth in the document entitled 
``Agreement for Exchange of Lands 2002 Federal-Utah State Trust Lands 
Consolidation'', dated June 18, 2002 (in this Act referred to as ``the 
Agreement''), are hereby incorporated in this Act, are ratified and 
confirmed, and set forth the obligations of the United States, the 
State of Utah, and the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands 
Administration, as a matter of Federal law.

SEC. 4. CONVEYANCES.

  (a) Conveyances.--All conveyances under sections 2, 3, and 4 of the 
Agreement shall be completed not later than 70 days after enactment of 
this Act.
  (b) Maps and Legal Descriptions.--
          (1) In general.--The maps and legal descriptions referred to 
        in the Agreement depict the lands subject to the conveyances 
        under the Agreement.
          (2) Public availability.--The maps and legal descriptions 
        referred to in the Agreement shall be on file and available for 
        public inspection in the offices of the Secretary of the 
        Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Intermountain 
        Regional Office of the Forest Service, and the Utah State 
        Director of the Bureau of Land Management.
          (3) Conflict.--In case of any conflict between the maps and 
        the legal descriptions in the Agreement, the legal descriptions 
        shall control.
  (c) Certain Coal Lands.--
          (1) Identification.--The Secretary of the Interior shall 
        prepare legal descriptions for the approximately 4,000 acres of 
        Federal lands that State of Utah and the Secretary have 
        identified within sections 1 through 17 of township 22 south, 
        range 6 east, and within township 22 south, range 7 east, Salt 
        Lake Base and Meridian, Utah.
          (2) Restriction on conveyance.--Conveyance of the lands 
        identified in paragraph (1) shall reserve to the United States 
        the coal estate and the right to develop the coal estate.
          (3) Future disposition.--Reservation of the coal estate 
        pursuant to paragraph (2) shall not restrict future disposition 
        of the coal estate pursuant to applicable law.
  (d) Species Identification.--Prior to any conveyances under this Act, 
the Secretary of the Interior shall identify Federal lands subject to 
the Agreement which contain wildlife species, or habitat of wildlife 
species, listed as a threatened species or an endangered species under 
the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) or that is 
a candidate for such a listing.
  (e) Independent Mineral Assessment.--Prior to any conveyances under 
this Act, the Secretary of the Interior and the State of Utah shall 
select an independent qualified mineral appraiser, or other qualified 
expert agreeable to both parties, who shall determine whether the terms 
of the Agreement related to the UA/UB parcel, identified in section 
3(d) of the Agreement, are fair and equitable to both parties. If there 
is a contrary determination, the Secretary and the State shall adjust 
the exchange or terms of the Agreement so that the terms are fair and 
equitable to both parties.

SEC. 5. PLANT AND WILDLIFE SPECIES.

  For the lands identified under section 4(d), and the lands identified 
in Exhibit E to the Agreement, the Secretary of the Interior and the 
State of Utah shall enter into an agreement which provides a process 
for the State to consult or take other appropriate action to avoid, 
offset, or mitigate adverse effects to any species or habitat 
identified.

SEC. 6. MINERAL DEVELOPMENT.

  All payments received by the United States pursuant to section 13(c) 
of the Agreement shall be subject to sharing with the State of Utah in 
the same manner the United States shares bonus bids, rentals, and 
royalties with the State of Utah under section 35 of the Mineral 
Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 191).

SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION.

  There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to 
carry out this Act, including such sums as may be desired to reduce the 
balance of the interest and principal amounts owed by the United States 
to the Trust Lands Administration pursuant to sections 4 and 5 of the 
Agreement.

SEC. 8. COSTS.

  The United States and the State of Utah shall each bear its own 
respective costs incurred in the implementation of this Act.

                          PURPOSE OF THE BILL

    The purpose of H.R. 4968 is to provide for the exchange of 
certain lands in Utah.

                  BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

    Due to the high percentage of federally-owned property in 
Utah and the resulting limited tax base, the State of Utah was 
given lands at statehood for the purpose generating income for 
public schools. The lands, scattered in checkerboard fashion 
across the State, have been held and controlled in a legal 
trust, with accrued interest to be used specifically for the 
benefit of public schools. In Utah, the State Institutional 
Trust Lands Administration is responsible for approximately 3.5 
million acres, and by law it must maximize revenue for the 
benefit of Utah schools. Many of these lands have failed to 
generate their expected income as a result of being landlocked 
in sensitive environmental areas. Land exchanges, however, have 
proven to be a valuable tool to help the State consolidate its 
properties into manageable tracts to enable them to generate 
income, while also allowing the federal government to acquire 
sensitive environmental properties of high public interest and 
improve the maintenance and management of these lands.
    The legislation would ratify a land exchange agreement 
reached between the federal government and the State of Utah. 
The agreement has been approved by the Secretaries of the 
Interior and Agriculture. The agreement must also be ratified 
by the Utah Legislature. The federal government would acquire 
approximately 113,000 acres of State trust lands, including 
those within the San Rafael Swell in Emery County, the Red 
Cliffs Desert Reserve habitat conservation plan area in 
Washington County, and lands within the Manti La Sal National 
Forest. The state would acquire approximately 138,000 acres. 
The negotiated land exchange process follows the pattern 
established in previous exchanges authorized in the 105th and 
106th Congresses. An independent review considered the exchange 
to be of equal value.
    The San Rafael Swell is a 900-mile region west of the Green 
River, containing the San Rafael Reef with dozens of beautiful 
side canyons. The region has significant natural, historical 
and cultural resources including habitat for Desert Bighorn 
Sheep, sections of the Old Spanish Trail and Outlaw Trail, and 
paleontological resources. The area has been the subject of 
considerable public interest, and contains many areas under 
consideration for various federal designations, including a 
national conservation area, national monument, or wilderness. 
Because of the potential incompatibility of these designations 
with resource development, it is beneficial to the State to 
trade out its lands within the Swell.
    The exchange also contains trust lands within the Red 
Cliffs Desert Reserve, a habitat conservation plan area for the 
Desert Tortoise. The area contains the highest density of 
critical habitat for the threatened species in the United 
States. The potential development of these lands is also 
limited due to the federal designation.
    Congress has twice recognized the authority and ability of 
the Secretary of the Interior to negotiate and enter into 
agreements similiar to the proposal contained in this bill 
subject to the approval of Congress (Public Law 106-301; Public 
Law 105-335).

                            COMMITTEE ACTION

    H.R. 4968 was introduced on June 19, 2002, by Congressman 
Chris Cannon (R-UT). The bill was referred to the Committee on 
Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee on 
National Parks, Recreation, and Public Lands and the 
Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health. On June 27, 2002, 
the Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation, and Public 
Lands held a hearing on the bill. On July 18, 2002, the 
Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation, and Public Lands 
met to mark up the bill. Mr. Cannon offered an amendment to 
insert the date the agreement between the two parties was 
actually signed. The amendment was adopted by voice vote and 
the bill, as amended, was ordered favorably reported to the 
Full Resources Committee by voice vote. On July 24, 2002, the 
Full Resources Committee met to consider the bill. The 
Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health was discharged from 
further consideration of the bill by unanimous consent. On 
September 12, 2002, the Full Committee continued consideration 
of the bill. Mr. Cannon offered an amendment in the nature of a 
substitute to: ensure that the coal estate and its future 
disposition is reserved to the United States in a 4,000 acre 
tract within the ``Emery Known Recoverable Coal Resource 
Area''; requires the Secretary of the Interior to identify, 
prior to conveyance, lands containing wildlife species, or 
habitat of species, which are listed as candidate, threatened, 
or endangered under the Endangered Species Act; to authorize 
the Secretary of the Interior and the Governor of Utah to enter 
into an agreement that provides a process for the State to 
consult or take other appropriate action to avoid, offset or 
mitigate adverse effects to any species or habitat identified; 
require an independent review, prior to conveyance, of the 
parcel of land known as the UA/UB tract and allow for the 
Secretary of the Interior and the State of Utah to make 
adjustments to the exchange to make the exchange fair and 
equitable if a contrary determination is raised by the review. 
The amendment was adopted by voice vote and the bill as amended 
was then ordered favorably reported to the House of 
Representatives by voice vote.

            COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

    Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of 
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the 
Committee on Resources' oversight findings and recommendations 
are reflected in the body of this report.

                   CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY STATEMENT

    Article I, section 8 of the Constitution of the United 
States grants Congress the authority to enact this bill.

                    COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII

    1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(2) of rule XIII of the 
Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and 
a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be 
incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(3)(B) 
of that rule provides that this requirement does not apply when 
the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted 
cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the 
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
    2. Congressional Budget Act. As required by clause 3(c)(2) 
of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and 
section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, this 
bill does not contain any new budget authority, spending 
authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in tax 
expenditures. According to the Congressional Budget Office, 
enactment of this bill could result in income to the federal 
government of less than $500,000 a year over the next 10 years.
    3. General Performance Goals and Objectives. This bill does 
not authorize funding and therefore, clause 3(c)(4) of rule 
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives does not 
apply.
    4. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate. Under clause 
3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives and section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act 
of 1974, the Committee has received the following cost estimate 
for this bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget 
Office:

                                     U.S. Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                Washington, DC, September 27, 2002.
Hon. James V. Hansen,
Chairman, Committee on Resources,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 4968, the Federal-
Utah State Trust Lands Consolidation Act.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contacts are Megan 
Carroll (for federal costs), and Marjorie Miller (for the state 
and local impact).
            Sincerely,
                                          Barry B. Anderson
                                    (For Dan L. Crippen, Director).
    Enclosure.

H.R. 4968--Federal-Utah State Trust Lands Consolidation Act

    CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 4968 would cost less 
than $500,000, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts. 
The bill could affect direct spending (including offsetting 
receipts); therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures would apply, but 
we estimate that any such effects would be insignificant.
    H.R. 4968 would ratify an agreement between the federal 
government, the state of Utah, and the Utah School and 
Institutional Trust Land Administration. In doing so, the bill 
would provide for a roughly equal value exchange of about 
243,000 acres of federal and state lands and interests. Based 
on information from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), we 
estimate that federal costs to complete the proposed exchange 
would not exceed $500,000. According to the BLM, the federal 
lands to be exchanged currently generate no significant 
receipts and are not expected to do so over the next 10 years. 
Hence, CBO estimates that conveying those lands would not 
result in a significant loss of offsetting receipts.
    Some of the federal lands to be conveyed contain deposits 
of oil shale, which, according to BLM, are unlikely to generate 
significant receipts in the near future because the agency 
currently lacks authority to develop such resources. Under H.R. 
4968, if the state develops those resources, the federal 
government would receive a portion of the income that they 
produce. The likelihood of such development and extent of 
possible proceeds are highly uncertain, but based on 
information from BLM, CBO assumes that any increase in 
offsetting receipts from such resources would not exceed 
$500,000 a year over the next 10 years.
    H.R. 4968 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and 
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments. 
The only duties imposed on the state of Utah would be those 
assumed voluntarily by the state as a party to the exchange 
agreement, which has been signed by the governor and approved 
by the state legislature.
    The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Megan Carroll 
(for federal costs), and Marjorie Miller (for the state and 
local impact). This estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine, 
Deputy Assistant Director Budget Analysis.

                    COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4

    This bill contains no unfunded mandates.

                PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW

    This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or 
tribal law.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    If enacted, this bill would make no changes in existing 
law.

                                  
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